There are a lot of different apps and tools available to help your with all of your social media accounts and activity, but the one that I rely on daily is Buffer.

With Buffer, I can space out my social media shares, and time them for optimum engagement, so that I'm not spamming followers or posting links when no one's looking. And today there's an update for the Buffer app that brings much-needed analytics to you when you're on the go.

Have you ever tried Buffer? Is there a social media management tool that you think is better?

While Spotify, Rdio, Rhapsody and other music streaming services tout their expansive music catalog and discovery services, what sets Google Play Music apart from the rest of the pack is the ability to upload already owned music into the service’s...

Some people are born with a great eye for decorating or design. Others learn the skill and are able to apply it successfully. And then there are the rest of us. If you don't have much of a knack for design, a few basic techniques can go a long way.

More Facebook likes! This is the driving passion of some social media marketers. They desire it. They dream about it. They crave it. They somehow think that more Facebook likes is the panacea for all of the world’s ills.

There’s a bit of confusion over SEO and content marketing. The confusion comes over how SEO and content marketing fit together. Do they fit together? Are they at odds with each other? If so, is it possible to force them together?

With so many options and limited resources, small businesses are often overwhelmed by online marketing. This post walks small businesses through the steps of setting up a marketing strategy so that it all feels a little more manageable.

Discussions on storytelling are favorite in advertising and marketing circles. Advertising is all about storytelling; a brand story is essential in making sense out of the brand: why it exists and what it really wants to be.

7 Essential Video SEO Tips to Rank #1 on YouTubeFebruary 25, 2015YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world so you obviously want your videos to get to the top of the search, but is there a secret to rank higher than anyone else?

What Is the Personality Type of Your Brand?February 25, 2015A brand personality type can be anything from eco-conscious to a source for education to trendy. This vibe and human part of a brand is the first thing that consumers connect to.

Is your blog looking a bit run down? Maybe it isn’t functioning as well as you’d like? Your blog represents your company’s headquarters online, so if it is not performing up to your expectations, it is time to upgrade it with some simple plugins.

This post originally appeared on the Buffer blog. You may have heard it said that understanding your audience on social media is one of the keys to success with social media marketing. (We may have even said it ourselves a time or two!

Sources and Tags: Dennis O'Connor's Curating Secrets

There's no question that Dennis O'Connor has found much success on Scoop.it. It wasn't all coincidental, though. Dennis shared with us two of his best curation secrets and tricks:

1. Develop multiple sources for your topicsIt's important to carefully think through the keywords that you set for your topic so that Scoop.it can crawl the web and provide you with interesting and relevant content and inspiration. In addition to taking full advantage of this, Dennis also uses other tools like Twitter, StumbleUpon, and Prismatic to find content to share on Scoop.it. Once he finds the content he wants to share with his audience, he uses Scoop.it as his social media hub to add value to that content and share it everywhere.

2. Tag your postsDennis takes a lot of time to tag each of his posts. This allows him, he explained, to assemble publications based upon his tagged topics. When he's using his information on Scoop.it for his E-learning classes, it's easy for him to filter his Scoop.it pages based upon different subjects and easily compile a list of posts and articles on appropriate topics to provide to his students. Something interesting that Dennis does with his tagged articles is to pull them by subject and create "special editions" of his topics on his blog for special classes and events that he is teaching.

While the original Scoop graphic and comments relate to 'curation skills' - I felt it was relevant to share with students as it offers a model incorporating 'ethical' consideration through the research process.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.